Ryan H. (L D M) proves there just may be worse things lurking in ball pits. I don’t really need to point out what is awesome with this…well, because…it is all awesome :-D
I was actually going on to Ryan’s flickr stream to blog his masterpiece Settlers of Catan game that he built for Brickworld, but the ball pit distracted me…so I’ll just kill two birds with one stone.
I don’t even want to know how much this cost you buddy!! That is a lot of Bricklinkin’!!!
Flickr user D-Town Cracka has created this beautiful piece of technological terror, the 2K11 Krug, a Soviet-era surface-to-air missile launcher that’s still in use in Russia today. It’s chock full of excellent details and great piece usages, and it even has a deployed mode where the travel lock swings out of the way.
Since TR has a bit of a conflict of interest as a judge for the Real World Starfighter Contest, I think it’s my duty to highlight some of the best entries so far. Not surprisingly, Pierre E Fieschi is among the builders whose work stands out.
Pierre writes, “Disregarding the recent Non-Profileration Treaty, US government and NASA decided — instead of dismantling them — to recycle the excess amount of nukes into a new kind of space program.”
Henrik Hoexbroe calls this 50’s station wagon — “Wooden-style panels, two-tone body paint, white-wall tires, painted matching hubcaps, panoramic windscreen, partly covered rear wheels, huge metal bumpers, grotesque Texas-style longhorn ornament.” But Henrik’s LEGO rendition of this vehicular monstrosity is stunning. The color combinations and overall lines turn something ugly into a thing of beauty.
Is there anything Bruce Lowell (bruceywan) can’t make out of Lego Bricks? Again Bruce masterfully captures another iconic everyday object, and it looks delicious. I love the little touches, like the ice cream oozing out a bit at the bottom by the stick.
Today Funcom announced that it has entered a partnership with LEGO to create a new massively-multiplayer-online game. This time around it’s based on the phenomenally popular collectible Minifigures, which LEGO has been licensing out with surprising frequency, with them now appearing on everything from suitcases to pencil carriers and lunchboxes. Funcom’s most recognizable game to date was the dubiously successful Age of Conan MMORPG, which like nearly all MMOs that are not owned by Blizzard, withered away quietly to the deserts of free-to-play a short time after release. Funcom touts that the game will “focus on maximum accessibility,” which doesn’t bode well for sustaining the long-term interest and depth required to support such an expensive endeavor as an MMO necessitates. I am curious, however, about what sort of plot and world Funcom intends to tease out of what is, essentially, simply a random collection of figures. The press release is scarce on details, but that’s to be expected this early in development:
LEGO® Minifigures are the inhabitants of an unimaginable number of spectacular creations put together by both kids and grown-ups over the past several decades. Whether it is a knight in shining armor, a brave firefighter or just an oddball in a gorilla suit, these figures breath life into elaborately constructed cities, castles and even space stations around the world.
I do sincerely hope that this game will be more successful than LEGO’s last ill-fated foray into the world of MMOs, but the MMO market is notoriously hard to get even a foothold in, much less create a rousing success.
See the full press release from Funcom here.
via RockPaperShotgun.
I have seen a lot of discussion with respect to CUUSOO, in particular in terms of licenced themes, but generally about feasability of the entire program. Everyone obvioulsy has their own opinions, but personally I think the program is brilliant. We have to keep in mind that this is all in Beta right now and obvioulsy the kinks will be worked out over time. I think the true success of CUUSOO will be through highly thought out projects that are designed with the program in mind…just throwing any given LEGO model on there won’t work in most cases.
Now with all that being said, Team Jigsaw, made up of Five X Five, Brickthing, Lego Junkie, and Arkov have just published a new project based on the hugely popular Portal video game series. I have to be honest, I have never played the games, but I am familiar with the design and aesthetic of it, and one thing is very clear with this project…these guys put a tonne of thought and effort into all aspects of the design!
The thing that really stands out with this for me, is that they have really designed it with different types of possible sets in mind. This wouldn’t be restricted to just a simple building set. One of my favourites is the LEGO boardgame version.
Be sure to check out all the details and ideas. If nothing else, these guys deserve a pat on the back for their planning and development. I think they have set the bar rather high for the design effort of future projects. This had previously been denied by the CUUSOO team, but their perseverance got it reconsidered and approved for voting.
Well done guys!! I really do think that this is a project that could be a huge success!
No surprise that Chris (Babalas Shipyards) can build a mean naval ship, but his latest creation is something spectacular.
The angles and finishing details really put this over the top. And considering this was the state of it just a few days ago, makes it all the more impressive :)
I’ll be honest, I’m not exactly sure what the story is behind this new creation by Barney Main (SlyOwl). I am sure, however, that it’s an amazing build. The level of detail is fantastic, and the household objects are rendered in LEGO perfectly. The chicken is full of great part usage and details, and the expression on its face is fantastic.
Victor of eclipseGrafx, a fast-rising custom minifigs store, is applying for a quarter million dollar grant from Mission Small Business and he needs your support in votes. Click on the graphic below for details and it only takes a minute (plus you need a Facebook account). If you need a reason to vote (or wonder why I posted this), just know that Victor has been very generous in donating custom minifigs to the annual Creations for Charity fundraiser, so helping him spread the word is the least I can do.
Tim previously announced the contest that Stijn (Red Spacecat) and I are running over at the Starfighters Group on flickr. Figured since it was the half way point of the contest, I would take the opportunity to spread the word a little more.
This whole contest was a total last minute whim on my part, and it was only when Stijn graciously arranged the prize sponsorship with Morebricks that it became a legitimate endeavour. So far the participation has been outstanding, with 23 entries of all shapes and sizes. I don’t want to give away my favourites quite yet, but be sure to check them all out. Personally I still haven’t built a ship for it, but my man Stijn has totally shown me how it is done with his EADS TWDS ‘LONGBOW’. As usual his presentation is rather fantastic!
So all you space-boys and space-gilrs out there…get your bricks out and start getting creative. Lets see if we can’t get 50+ entries. You have until August 1st.
Oh yeah, one last bit of incentive…behold this swanky 1st place trophy!!!!
Heath Flor builds a replica of Smolny Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia. It took Heath almost a year to plan and build it, and he used between 20 and 30 thousand bricks to complete it. This is his largest project so far, and I must say it was truly worth the effort! It is simply amazing. With large projects like this, it is not only the beauty of the model we need to admire, but also all the time, effort and patience needed to complete it.
